The Calm
by XxSynergisticEffectxX
Summary: "And little did I know that it was just the calm before the storm." Austin Carlile x FC. Of Mice & Men. Alan, Phil, Tino and Aaron too!


I traced the scar alongside his tattooed chest and smiled, he had been through so much in the short twenty-five years he'd been alive but, he still wasn't bitter or angry in any way. It was humbling to think that someone could go through losing their mother, heart surgery, a rather ugly divorce, and being still so unsure about how much time you had left breathing but still be so happy all of the time. I absolutely admired Austin and just how amazing he was; I couldn't stop the giant smile the spread across my lips.

He cracked open a chocolate brown eye and smiled a bit himself, "what's so funny?" His voice was hoarse and I frowned. He had been so upset the night before, Of Mice & Men had played Second and Sebring and it had been one of the most emotional versions of the song I had ever heard. The second the chorus hit, Austin had fallen to his knees and burst into tears and I – without thinking of the implications later – had run onto the stage and embraced him, crying with him, wiping and kissing away all of the tears.

Being Of Mice & Men's tour manager I was not supposed to have a relationship with anyone signed to Rise Records (as that's where I worked) and after my giant production, regardless if I was just trying to help one of their most popular band member's broken heart, I was fired. But, I had a connection at Sumerian and it wouldn't be a problem to transfer but, after I had told Austin what happened he had been even more upset.

But, I shook off the bad memories and stuck out my tongue at him. "Your face. That what's so funny." He rolled his eyes and moved so I was on top of him and he was holding my hips.

"Well, excuse me for having such a humorous face." He ran his hand over the dermals on my hips and sighed. "Rachael, I am so sorry. I just saw all of those people out there and I don't know what came over me. Now you don't have a job, just because you were trying to comfort me. And I-" I covered his lips with mine and he wrapped his arms around me, bringing me flush against his chest.

"I could be working at Sumerian right now if I wanted. Don't you dare worry about that, I love Rise and things will never stop me from that but, what I did was against the rules and I knew that when I got involved with you. I just couldn't help myself. I brought it upon myself. You didn't do anything." I looked up at him and brushed his brown hair out of his eyes and smiled.

He sighed and picked me up by the hips and moved me onto another part of the bed when he got up and moved towards the bathroom. I rubbed my eyes and stretched, and when I opened my eyes there was a half-naked Austin leaning against the doorway smirking at me.

"And what exactly would you be looking at like that?" I asked, crooking my eyebrow as he made his way in front of me and sat down. His eyes roamed over me before speaking.

"You in _my _shirt." He smirked some more and I looked down to see that it was indeed _his _tank top I had slid on after last night's rather exhausting drama; I really couldn't be bothered to sort out all of the black tank-tops between Austin and I because I was so mentally and physically drained. I could only shrug before he shot up randomly and held out his hand.

I raised an eyebrow again. "What am I supposed to do with that?" He only rolled his eyes before picking me up, slinging me over his shoulder like I was a bag and moving me into the bathroom then sitting me on the counter.

"You're taking a shower with me." He said it more as a command than a suggestion and everything that was about to happened clicked before he closed the bathroom door behind him.

About an hour later we both emerged from the bathroom hot and wet, both in towels – his around his waist and one around my chest and the other in my hair. It was so warm and I couldn't tell whether it was from the heat of the water – Austin took impossibly _hot _showers, I didn't know how his skin took it – or from our ehem…activities.

His phone rang, jolting me out of my thoughts.

"Hello?" He answered, pulling on a pair of boxers and running the towel haphazardly through his hair. He saw me and wrapped the towel up before he snapped it at me like he was some jock in a locker room. He only smiled innocently when I looked up at him and pointed to the phone when I opened my mouth to scold him.

I rolled my eyes and walked into my closet, halfway listening to his endless stream of "yeahs" and "uh-huhs" to Alan.

I slid on a pair of black panties and the matching bra, because I mean really every girl feels twenty times more attractive when her underwear matches am I right?, before I slid on a white off the shoulder tank top and a pair of American flag shorts (stars on one leg, stripes on the other) and my favorite pair of red Toms. When I came out of the bathroom Austin was still on the phone so I collected his discarded towel and my own before putting them in the dirty clothes bin in the bathroom.

I brushed out my long (it was past my shoulders, almost mid-back) lavender colored hair and put it up in a messy bun before settling for just some mascara and lip balm as my make-up for the day and then went to tell Austin to hurry up his gossip-fest otherwise he was going to miss his flight.

_Well maybe he should take his time. _I thought to myself before I shook the thought off, I felt kind of bad really. I should embrace his career – his band is one of the most popular in our music genre and I should be happy they get these kinds of opportunities. _I just miss him so fucking much when he goes. _I thought again as I watched him slide on another one of his tank tops and a pair of jeans.

"Yeah Alan, we'll be leaving as soon as Rachael is d-" I waved to him from the doorway of the bathroom and he stopped and stared for a second before Alan snapped him back into reality, "yeah, we're leaving now. I'll see ya man." He hung up and made his way over to me before scooping me up and spinning me around. "I'm going to miss you Babygirl. Don't ever doubt that. Not seeing those beautiful gray eyes every day is going to hurt like a mother fucker."

I sighed into his shoulder, trying to avoid tears, before going to the corner of our room and grabbing the smallest of his packed bags. "We need to go otherwise you'll be late y'know."

I made my way down the stairs, into the garage and put his stuff in the trunk of my Challenger. He followed shortly after with his other bags and we set out towards LAX. Well, we would've if he didn't make me get in the passenger set of MY FUCKING CAR.

I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted as much as one can pout. "This is _my _car. In _my _name; therefore I, _ME, RACHAEL, _should be driving not you."

"You're not a bad driver; I just get panic attacks when anyone else drives me around, especially you because you're probably the most aggressive, reckless driver I know." He sounded like a parent and I stifled a giggle.

We rode the rest of the way blaring Slayer and just enjoying the last few minutes we had together. He parked and I sighed, getting out and grabbing the smallest bag again and followed him to the gate.

I waved to Aaron, Tino, Phil and Alan before sitting down and talking with Aaron's girlfriend about her plans to welcome them back home with a big party. I absentmindedly nodded half-listening and half-watching as Austin got his bags checked and got his boarding pass ready to board. I sighed and hugged her goodbye before she ran to Aaron; everyone was embraced by their girlfriend's except for Austin, who was waiting for me. I bit _my_ lip in order to stop the tears before I walked, ever so slowly, towards him and wrapped my arms awkwardly around his waist.

I mean really, we had _just _gone public with our relationship and here he was leaving for two weeks.

"I'll miss you." He whispered.

"I'll miss you more." I smirked and he chuckled before the announcer called for first class of his flight. I frowned and his kissed the edges of my mouth then directly on my lips before he walked away with all of his bags in tow. He turned around and blew me a kiss and I caught it, all the while plastering a fake smile on my lips.

When he was gone, and I hugged all the girls goodbye I made my way to my car and made it all the way back to our shared apartment before I let all of the tears fall.

Sometimes I really hated being a musician.

_Okay, there it is! What do you guys think? R&R pwease? C:_


End file.
